DailyLit Blog

I Can Has…Book?

October 9th, 2008 Maggie

The Lolcat phenomenon has emerged from the “intertubes” and spawned a real-life, dead-tree book. I Can Has Cheezburger? A Lolcat Colleckshun went on sale this week. It’s not the first blog-to-book leap, but it might be one of the most unlikely.

Only on the internet could a place with random photographs of cats–and the occasional walrus–with humorous and misspelled captions submitted by readers become something that literally thousands of people look at every day. It even lays claim to a language–Lolspeak, “the first language born of teh [sic] intertubes.”

It’s gotten me thinking about the Web 2.0 phenomenon–that is, the personalization of the internet through user-generated content. Although DailyLit’s content isn’t created by readers, our customizable reading schedules make reading very Web 2.0 indeed. What all this means for society–and for the future of reading–is a fascinating question that’s well worth pondering.

What say you, readers? Is the Lolcats book an extraordinary example of the creativity possible in an online world? Or is this it surest sign yet that the intertubes–I mean, internet–will spell destruction for traditional reading and books (and standardized spelling)?

Entry Filed under: General